PalmOrb: Powering your Palm

PalmOrb : Instructions : Powering your Palm

I know nothing about electronics - so if you follow this advice and blow up you Palm or otherwise damage you Palm (or your house, yourself, etc) then don't hold me responsible!

I had a battery powered Palm that I wanted permanently connected to my serial port and I didn't want to keep replacing the batteries. My thinking was: as mine was powered by two 1.5 volt batteries, I should be able to:

take a suitable 3 volt mains powered adapter. [Make that a 3 volt DC fully regulated power supply - like the ones you can buy for video games.]
cut off the end and expose the wires
just connect the positive wire to the positive battery terminal (the spring like one with the "+" next to it). [I just wrapped the wires around the springs].
and connect the negative one to the negative battery terminal (the spring like one with the "-" near it).

and it works for me. It's not perfect, because I have two wires hanging out the back which cause the Palm not to sit perfectly in the cradle BUT it was simple, cheap and easy. Here are some notes:

Pick a power supply that can supply enough current for your Palm, I'm using a 1200mA one which is vastly more than my IIIxe will need! [Can't imagine it needing more than 100mA].
Pick a power supply that has twin wire cable - it will be easier to split the two. [My one was a coax one and was a bit of a pain].
Pick a power supply that has a thin wire - it will allow the Palm to sit closer to the cradle. (Or just drill a small hole in the side of the palm for the cable?)
Pick a switched power supply - it will get less hot and waste less energy.
DO NOT use a non-regulated power supply - these can output higher voltages than stated, if the current drawn is lower than it's max.
REMOVE the batteries! DO NOT do this with the batteries in!
If you can't work out which wire is positive and which is negative then just use a volt meter.

These are other sites (obtained by doing a google) that detail how to power your Palm - most need some soldering skills!

Adding a DC socket to a 3Com Palm III or IBM Workpad: http://www.fastlight.demon.co.uk/jg/palm.html
Palm III charger: http://www.harbaum.org/till/palm/cradle/
Power for the cradle: http://www.pspilot.de/ppppowcr/ppppowcr.html